You miss Mercury Music Picks the last few weeks? Well, I missed you too! But the absence was for a good reason—next week sees the launch of the Mercury’s first Music Issue since pre-pandemic. Editing a print issue takes an incredible amount of time and effort by a huge crew of hard working people—and we’re celebrating those efforts with a music issue launch party with on Thursday, May 14 at Turn! Turn! Turn! (More deets on that below.)
Look out for that issue hitting streets May 13. Hope to see you at the party, and enjoy this week’s MMP!
Thursday, May 7
Colleen / Patricia Wolf
For fans of Death Hags, Mary Lattimore, Beverly Glenn-Copeland
Realistic Moment and Beacon Sound do it again, boosting sets by French ambient composer Colleen and Portland’s own Patricia Wolf with quadraphonic acoustics. Colleen–aka multi-instrumentalist Cécile Schott—composed her new Thrill Jockey Records album Libres antes del final on the Moog Matriarch, while each track on Wolf’s forthcoming album Yarrow looks at a different aspect of a plant’s life cycle. Wolf’s new track “Adapted for Extreme Conditions” is Boards of Canada-esque; BOC-heads, we are so back. (The Off Beat, 7 pm, more info here, all ages) LINDSAY COSTELLO
Foodman / Plus / Carly Barton
For fans of Shuta Hasunuma, Nami Shimada, Tamaki Roy
You hungry? Good, because Foodman is here with sonic treats to fill you all the way up. The Yokohama, Japan-based musician-producer creates with a similar deft prowess as his Japanese synth forebears Yellow Magic Orchestra and Yatsuaki Shimizu, but using a 21st Century palette unavailable during the first wave of Japanese electronic music. A Foodman show can go one of many ways, but thanks to local heat provided by Werm head honcho Plus and floor-filler supreme Carly Barton, I reckon it’s gonna feel like Panorama Bar upstairs at Swan Dive. (Swan Dive, 9 pm, more info here, 21+) JK, this show has been cancelled.
Friday, May 8
Cabaret Voltaire / I Speak Machine
For fans of Throbbing Gristle, Einstürzende Neubauten, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry
Picture it, Barcelona 2016. You’re still deeply hungover from the night before, seeing Air, John Carpenter, Vince Staples, Todd Terje, Peaches, and Kamasi Washington, and all you need is air conditioning so you don’t throw up or worse. You’re contemplating skipping the legendary British industrial-techno band Cabaret Voltaire’s show because if you try to dance, you legitimately might pass out. But hark! The one indoor, seated, air conditioned venue in all of Primavera Sound is exactly the venue Cabaret Voltaire is playing. Let’s hope we know how to take care of ourselves better than 10 years ago and that Roseland has their A/C cranked for this one. (Roseland Theater, 8 pm, more info here, 21+)
Related: Music journalist Dave Segal caught up with Cabaret Voltaire ahead of this, their Portland debut, to talk CV past, present, and future.
Sun Blood Stories
For fans of King Woman, Chelsea Wolfe, Ragana
It’s not everyday Clinton Street Theater hosts live music on its exquisite stage, and it’s not everyday that the passion of Sun Blood Stories is performed live. The deeply haunting vocals of Southern belle badass Amber Pollard express the nuances of pain and love and hope and fight. The doomed desert rock of SBS is by turns meditative and unwieldy, swirling Pollard’s vocals with the summoning of ancestors past, present, and future. The stories of the sun’s blood can’t be told by everyone, but they can be felt by all those who give themselves over to the power. (Clinton Street Theater, 8 pm, more info here, all ages)
Yuvees / Talking Contest / Public Pleasure / Paper/Upper\Cuts
For fans of Lithics, Casual Hex, Underpass
The Portland expats Yuvees are back, ready to play us the postpunk tunes we’ve been missing since their departure for the mean streets of Brooklyn, New York. Pulling influence from all over the punk map—including James Chance’s sax, A. Savage’s lyricism, and the subtle raw power of P.E.—Yuvees is a dish best served piping hot on the dance floor. With the still-Portland-based underground royalty of Talking Contest, Public Pleasure, and Papi’s Paper/Upper\Cuts, this just might be a Portland show of the year. (Swan Dive, 8 pm, more info here, 21+)
Saturday, May 9
Portland Fire halftime show featuring Ashanti
For fans of Aaliyah, Kelly Rowland, Ciara
Women, as we all know, do it way better than men. Case in point: the season-opener halftime show of the newly returning Portland Fire WNBA team to Rip City (take notes, Blazers halftime programmers). It was announced earlier this week that the halftime show for the Fire’s grand return will be the chronically punctual Ashanti. Coming up through the ranks of Murder Inc. Records in the early 2000s, Ashanti’s been the beautiful face of R&B since. The songstress behind… As the Portland Mercury’s music editor, I was just shushed at my own desk for playing Ashanti. With that, this blurb is done. (Moda Center, 6 pm, more info here, all ages)
St. Johns Bizarre
For fans of free music, community gatherings, St. Johns
After the St. Johns Parade on Saturday morning, local musical talent will flood the streets at the St. Johns Bizarre, with performances on two stages. Headlining is Alan Sparhawk of Low; several Portland Mercury favorites are also playing, including Dreckig, the Barbaras, and Forty Feet Tall. The event also serves as a giant craft fair, with around 200 vendors selling everything from art to clothing, pottery to plants. The streets will be overflowing with food options, including vendors Urban Fried Fry Bread, Philippine Market, Urban German, the cannoli queen Holy Shannoli, and more—many local St. Johns restaurants will also be open for business. (Downtown St. Johns, 10 am – 8 pm, FREE, more info here, all ages) KATHERINE CHEW HAMILTON
Sunday, May 10
Ecophony Rinne by Geinoh Yamashirogumi Album Listening
For fans of Hiroshi Yoshimura, Yasuaki Shimizu, Laraaji
Though I’ve yet to experience downtown’s new-ish Mono Space in person, the programming at the listening bar is top notch. Case in point, the Ecophony Rinne listening event hosted by Spencer Doran of Visible Cloaks. A multi-disciplinary Japanese art collective formed in the mid-’70s, Geinoh Yamashirogumi is best known globally for the very album Doran is presenting, Ecophony Rinne. Lush synth textures undulate in and out of focus, gently alchemizing with organic vocals and instrumentation. It’s music for meditation, nourishment, and spring. (Mono Space, 1 pm, more info here, all ages)
Gekiretsu / Cicatrice / Our Ichor / Armoured Coffin
For fans of Nine Inch Nails, Godflesh, Prison Religion
Portland-by-way-of-Spokane-and-Moses Lake outfit Gekiretsu is the solo industrial project by Harvey Jackson. Wading through the sample textures, Jackson’s low growl, and his monolithic riffs, you think you’re listening to a four- or five-piece. The mainline shot of power and anger flowing through the Gekiretsu stacks doesn’t ask anything of you as its energy metastasizes through your mortal coil, never to leave the skin suit you call home. (No Fun, 7 pm, more info here, 21+)
Monday, May 11
Texas Is the Reason / Growing Pains
For fans of Minus the Bear, American Football, As Above
They’re baaack. After their reformation at 2025’s Best Friends Forever festival in Las Vegas, the New York post-hardcore band Texas Is the Reason have embarked on a huge, multi-continent tour in 2026 and, thankfully for those not able to make BFF last year, are stopping at Polaris Hall. Though they only released a single studio album during their initial mid-’90s iteration, the band had (and continues to have) a massive impact on alternative music—Jets to Brazil are direct descendants of TITR, FFS. Portland band Growing Pains must be pinching themselves to be opening the West Coast run for this very special reunion tour. (Polaris Hall, 8 pm, more info here, 21+)
Also very worth it…
Loglady / Dartgun and the Vignettes / Grimiss / The Unbridled / Mingus Maps at Hawthorne Hideaway – May 8, more info here
Suss at Polaris Hall – May 8, more info here
Battle of the Gloom at The Off Beat – May 9, more info here
Blu & Exile / Rasheed Jamal / Spinitch at Mississippi Studios – May 9, more info here
Brown Horse / AC Sapphire at Polaris Hall – May 9, more info here
Creature Party / Railing / Orange Vinilla at The Nest – May 9, FREE, more info here
Dark Chisme / Mutual Shock / Ex Veles at Coffin Club – May 9, more info here
Electric Six / Tragedy / Rad Max at Dantes – May 9, more info here
Machinedrum / Ana Sia / Slurgeon b2b Silpher at Holocene – May 9, more info here
Oranssi Pazuzu at Star Theater – May 9, more info here
God Shell / Kill Michael / At the Heart of the World / Victory Over the Sun / T.U.L.O.C at High Limit Room – May 10, more info here
Holy Fuck / Memorials at Mississippi Studios – May 10, more info here
Just Mustard / Miss Grit at Polaris Hall – May 10, more info here
New Music Portland:
Coming soon, promise.
Portland Music News:
Be on the lookout for the Mercury’s next print issue, our first Music Issue since pre-pandemic, hitting streets May 13. Hot music goss, a Portland music map, album reviews, what some of our favorite Portland musicians love to eat around town, and so much more are in the pages of this year’s Music Issue! And don’t forget to come to the issue launch party at Turn! Turn! Turn! May 14. The affair is casual dress, and features Keeks, Isabeau Waia’u Walker, the Barbaras, and La Isla Electronica. 100% of the $10 entry fee goes to the incredible work being done across the street from Turn at Ethos Music Center. Come through, check out some of Portland’s best music, support the cause, and hang with the buds behind the Portland Mercury.
